Monthly Archives: March 2007

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Real Weddings: Kelli & John at the Surf & Sand!

March 31, 2007 – 1:03 pm

We had an absolutely AMAZING day at the Surf and Sand Resort for my awesomely fun clients and GOOD friends, Kelli & John! The wedding was beyond gorgeous! Kelli looked stunning and John was simply in-love-at-first-glance when their eyes met! The connection that this couple has is remarkable. I always get teary eyed during ceremonies but this ceremony also had me crying with laughter! The ever charming Greg Mohr of You May Kiss the Bride was their officiant and the ceremony brought a fab light inside this couples personality with their “Love is like a Dog” readings. What an all around FUNNY crew and beautiful couple!! Brianna assisted me on this Laguna Beach wedding and she was a force of energy that every planner dreams of having by her side! I am also able to provide these stellar shots taken by 2 oober creative and FUN photographers Serena of Serene Image Photography & Kristi Klemens of KLK Photography THANKS LADIES! Great job!!

The pictures below are courtesy of Kristi Klemens of KLK Photography

What’s a beach side affair without a few shells and starfish? The Family Heirloom Locket…..
I love this picture!! Laguna has the best private coves for shots like this….The Cake Table brought a HIP and dramatic vibe to the room….LOVED it!
Too….Much….Fun

Photos Below Courtesy of Serena of Serene Image Photography

My favorite part….The Walk with Mom & Dad! Hand flower balls made by the bride herself….

Such a modern and fun touch!

Puckered up and going in for the smooch……Kelli has such a sweet & sassy personality.

Here she is seducing the camera….Patiently, sitting back and relaxing….John was such a cool cat.

They brought in Casino Tables and they were a BIG hit!

“Mama needs a new pair of shoes!”

Kelli & John went with the RICH Chocolate colors.

I am in love with this palette. This is what LOVE looks like……


Congratulations Kelli & John!!

Venue: Surf & Sand Laguna Beach, CA

Photographer: Serena - Serene Image Photography
Photographer: Kristi Klemens - klk Photography
Videographer: Robert of HD inVision

DJ: Mark of Sterling DJ
Officiant: Greg Mohr -You May Kiss The Bride

Cake: Great Dane Bakery
Makeup- Bridal Makeup by Carina

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Real Weddings: Chastity & Albert

March 27, 2007 – 11:41 pm

What a GORGEOUS March Saturday for Chastity and Albert! We began the afternoon at Famous (as seen on TV) Crystal Cathedral and the Reception followed at the prestine Los Coyotes Country Club. Thanks to the BEAUTIFUL photography of Kristine Che I can share a few pro pics early. That’s the best part about working with amazing photographers….. They are as EXCITED as you are! By the way…….the blurry pics are my own…..I couldn’t hold back and had to share the itty bitty details! Allison of Flower Allie provided the floral gorgeous decor! Chastity and Albert were the sweetest couple ever! Proir to the big day their bridal party had continuous activities to celebrate their coming day! I even ran into them all at the Pirates Dinner Theatre in Buena Park! I always love seeing the bridal party get super involved and their wedding day was simply FUN-tastic….Lots of dancing, lots of laughter and an overall blast!


Ya gotta love the personal bride “BLING” top!


Hiding behind the bushes so the men could’nt take a sneak peek of the ladies………..

(Photos Courtesy of Dana Grant)


Who doesn’t love parasols?…..And what a beauty Chastity is!!



The Mom’s were suprised by a special Rose Ceremony! What a great way to say “I love you Mom!“


Albert the Groom had the BEST sense of humor. He’s quite the charmer.


Little Sis was the Maid of Honor and she was such an amazing presence…as were all the ladies!

The Crystal Cathedral could not have looked MORE spectacular! Kristine Che in Action.


A special moment after the “I DO”

The bridal party…Amazing…Funny….Spunky….. and Truely Hilarious group!

Floral Design by: http://www.flowerallieweddings.com/

Allison REALLY is the BEST of Orange County, no plugs necessary.

The pictures speak for themselves!

And FYI, these BELOW are not the PRO Pics!


What a gorgeous couple…….with infectious smiles!
 Yum…………..


The unexpected SMASH!

Best Wishes Chastity & Albert! Hope you are enjoying your honeymoon!

Ceremony: The Crystal Cathedral

Reception: Los Coyotes Country Club

Photography: Kristine Che

Videographer: Firefly Video

Floral Design: Flower Allie

Lighting: Rainbow Lighting

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March 21, 2007 – 10:02 am

SPEECHLESS - This is a very um, interesting article. What will WALMART do next?

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Miracle Medicine!

March 20, 2007 – 10:00 am

Let me introduce you to my new best friend, Airborne! (Not just for teachers!)….And I promise…..I am not getting any kickbacks, so the sole purpose of this post is to let my bride & grooms, friends & family know that if you are feeling even the SLIGHTEST bit icky, take this ASAP! One of my beautiful bride’s Chastity is getting married this Saturday and she got “the bug”! I know she’ll snap right out of it by saturating her tummy with this miracle medicine! Hang in there hun! Sold at drugstores near you!

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Love in Laguna!

March 19, 2007 – 10:13 am

What a fabulous weekend! I met one of my super sweet and wonderfully CALM brides Saturday afternoon for a pre-wedding details walk through in Laguna Beach. She’s getting married at the spectacular Surf n Sand Resort in a couple weeks and we wanted to map everything out for a seamlessly stunning wedding day! I have to say, this is one of my favorite spots. Who DOESNT love ocean front ceremonies? I am a little biased as I was married in Laguna myself! My bride is a big time DIY’er with classy taste so I know this wedding will be picture perfect! I also decided to suprise my husband with a room at the Capri Inn right next door…..this was the same place we stayed on our wedding night. The room was just as amazing as the last time we stayed there but with even more upgrades! Granite Counters, Jacuzzi, Kitchen and bar, and a STUNNING OCEAN view! If you are ever in Laguna and want a quaint experience with romantic views for a great price, check out this hotel! http://www.caprilaguna.com/

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Kiss Me, I’m Irish!

March 17, 2007 – 10:07 am

No, seriously, I AM! Hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable St Patty’s Day!! Remember to wear green and have lots of green eh refreshments!? I do feel that this year I DO have the luck of the Irish! Things couldnt be going any better! My family is healthy, I LOOOVE being married and hey, it’s even the year of 07′! (My lucky number!)
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The Parallels of buying your first home, and planning a wedding……Who knew??

March 8, 2007 – 4:23 pm

We are so excited to venture into the blissfulness of buying our first home together and having our VERY OWN driveway! To back up a little, our townhouse was on the market approx 3 months, when a fabulously-amped couple expecting their first baby put in an offer. They accepted our minor counter offer and everything runs smooth! We close escrow tomorrow Friday. I’ve got to say, I hate the packing….and geez who knew that we had so much JUNK? I literally felt like I was digging sand. Now, is Selling your home easy? HECK NO! Besides the ridiculous amount of paperwork you need to sign, there are agents & inspectors who shouldn’t be in the business because they are either leaving lights on or leaving doors unlocked after showing your home, or prying and pulling at your possessions and lying about it. Yep! Washing Machine happened to stop working the day the home inspector comes to our place. I get the guy on the phone after finding that my water won’t drain and he adamantly denies moving anything. LOW and BEHOLD, the report comes back and there are pictures of my laundry room drains exposed with the washer and dryer PULLED out from the wall? Nice Lie. Didn’t you know that I would see these pictures….and how hard it is to plug my stuff back in?! Thank god I hired professional people to help us buy and sell because it has reduced my stress level tenfold.

So, part 2: Is BUYING a home easy? NOPE. Especially if you and your spouse have 2 completely different opinions on what’s important. I wanted a good size kitchen, ample family space, and a master bathroom. He wanted RV parking and a long driveway. Yep, that’s all….Parking. Aren’t men simple creatures? If the house was perfect in every way but didn’t have RV parking, Donny wasn’t interested. I was at my wits end after week 3 of house hunting. There is not one thing we’ve agreed on yet! Isn’t this supposed to be fun?? And don’t get me started on So. Cals inflated real estate market! You can watch HGTV’s House Hunters and see a couple in another state roll into a 2500sq foot house for 1/4 what it costs here. So fast forward to Saturday Feb 17th. We come across a FABULOUS home on a cul-de-sac. Curb appeal, RV parking, great neighborhood and has family written all over it! It looked over our price range, but after seeing the flyer, IT WASN’T. Did they under price this one? (**heck ya they did). We walk inside and it doesn’t take us 2 minutes before we find each other in the hallway and say “This is THE ONE, let’s do it”. What? Are we agreeing on a house? AWESOME!!! We make nicey-nice with the owners, who happen to be the Senior Cleavers! Great couple who have lived there over 20 years. The owner really took a liking to Donny and showed him every little hose, sprinkler, and plug he installed. We were on cloud nine! We race to our friends mortgage office and get the full price offer in. Then we wait…and wait….and wait. They have 3 days to get back to us and Donny and I are ready to throw up with anticipation. The offer expires Tuesday at Midnight and here it is 5:00pm on Tuesday and nothing. THEN, I get a call at 5:30 that they accepted our offer. HORAY!! They had 2 other offers come in EXACTLY as ours but they chose us! It’s a done deal and we move in at the end of March!

So here are my stress free lessons that can apply to both planning your wedding and buying your first home together!

  1. Take your time on finding a home. It’s like buying your wedding dress…or even picking the right guy/gal……..You just KNOW when you find “THE ONE” and trust me, you’ll lose sleep over it just like we did.

  2. If and when you find “THE ONE” make sure you get oober personal with the sellers. The reason they chose us was because of our excitement for their home. We gushed over it and told them our story, met them in person, and by these encounters alone they knew we were the perfect couple to take over their spread. Vendors and Reception sites should be the same way. You just know when it fits.

  3. Don’t let the little things stress you out. Sure, the inspector screwed with my washer & our buyers waited until the last minute to ask for repairs (I’m still peeved) but I’ll get over it. There are a billion other tiny little things that will test your patience. Pick your battles.
  4. Make a list of Must haves and COMPROMISE! It’s not just YOUR house or YOUR wedding. You both deserve to be heard.
  5. Your family WILL have opinions…..well most do. Take them all with a grain of salt. They think they are helping and let them think that. There just might be some VALUABLE information in all that hooplah…….and there will be off the wall questions…….and many of them……just take a deep breath and know that they are happy for this new venture in your life!!

  6. Most importantly, HIRE a Professional you TRUST to take care of all the little details. Ask me about wedding planning and I can whip out answers all day long…..but ask me about property tax clauses and LGS reports and I’m out of my league. Thank god I have amazing professionals that KNOW what they are doing and have experience.

    LAST BUT NOT LEAST:
    What’s in a name? Sure, As we move, we are dropping the beautiful sounding street name “Champagne” to the horrifically disease sounding name “Gloxinia”. But hey, I LOVE this new house and with this NEW HOUSE comes a NEW NAME. I can learn to love it. **Gulp**

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Bride Gone Mad!

March 6, 2007 – 5:34 pm

Ok, so even if it is a big fake “You Tube” moment, there is nothing more hilariously scary than a Bridezilla Breakdown….Britney Style. (Okay that was harsh- Sorry Brit Brit). But seriously, I’ve yet to experience one of these scissor swinging monsters. Thankfully, I’ve been lucky to have had a fabulous group of brides, and my instinct is always RIGHT on, when I meet and book a wedding. Sure there have been a few Monster-in-laws who actually make this bride look extremely sane, but as long as the bride is calm, all is well in the wedding world! Check out this HILARIOUS clip of the Bride Gone Mad, and please remember ladies, your wedding day is a once and a lifetime event. Do you really want your future hubby to see you with bald patches when you walk down the aisle? (And PS: I have plenty of professional hair & makeup artists to choose from……we can avoid this all together. :) Bride Gone Mad
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BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER!!

March 5, 2007 – 3:51 pm

I absolutely cringe when I get a phone call like this! My always vibrant and happy May bride was crushed this morning to learn that her computer recently CRASHED in the middle of a photo montage project that she was working on. The Dell Laptop was erasing files as she watched in horror. Computer Gurus EVERYWHERE, send some lucky dust to my bride in West Virginia! Lesson be learned by all….BACK UP YOUR HARD DRIVE! Not only did she lose alot of wedding planning pages, from spreadsheets to her address list, but her fiance’s school work and super rare pictures! NO BUENO! I want to believe from watching 20/20 and CSI that when a computer crashes that it never REALLY erases and loses ALL memory! I hope I’m right!

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New Bower’s Museum Bride!

March 5, 2007 – 3:19 pm

Saturday was such a beautiful day in Orange County! Where else in the US would it be overcast one day and 85 degrees the next? One of my favorite Florists Allison Becker of www.FlowerAllieWeddings.com referred me to a wonderful bride Andrea from Irvine. We met Saturday morning for some coffee and chit chat about possibly hiring me for their October 07′ wedding at Bower’s Museum. She brought along her super excited Mother Barbara. We all know how excited Mom’s get but Barbara was just a sparkle of energy and although having gone through 2 of her older daughter’s weddings within the last 5 years, her BABY was getting married and she was on cloud 9! Now, usually when I meet the bride and groom for the first time, I really like to find out what they are looking for in a planner? What type of Wedding were they looking for…..had they run across any inspirations yet, but more importantly, do we click? You know….that vibe that you get when you meet people for the first time? Well, this bride, her mother, and myself just CLICKED instantly. There were no ackward moments of silence, and talking to them was like talking to my own mom & sister about her upcoming wedding! These first initial meetings are always so fun for me because I really get to share my creative side and my professional side but more importantly, I want them to know that I am on their side! I was so flattered when she said “So what do we do now? We want to hire you and when you get that feeling that it’s right, you know it.” And that was that! I couldn’t be more excited about working with a new hip and young couple at the Bowers Museum of Santa Ana this October 20th!

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